Traffic

March 15, 2009

Two articles came through to me over the weekend on the topic of how social web technologies are replacing email. The first is this feature on BBC News Online titled: social networks are the new email, and explores how more and more people are using FriendFeed, Facebook and Twitter instead of email.

The second is this in-depth blog post from a chap called Hutch Carpenter. His post titled: microblogging will marginalise coporate email, goes to a depth that the BBC article doesn't and includes a couple of useful graphs that articulate microblogging and its role in corporate communications.

This part of his post stood out for me:

Reflecting both on [a recent statement from the Google CEO calling microblogging a poor man's email] and my own use of Yammer at my company, I’m seeing that microblogging is slowly replacing a lot of my email activity.
As more companies take up microblogging with services like Yammer, Socialcast, Present.ly and SocialText Signals, employee communications amongst employees will both increase and divert away from email.

So there you have some new social web technologies to try out and see how they might help in your comms.

One highlight was when the owner realised that we had organised this networking event on a wiki and over Twitter and thought it was ridiculous. So a friend of his offered to set up a Twitter account for him there and then. The chosen username? @itsridiculous. Now you can follow Workhouse Coffee.

March 08, 2009

I experienced Twitter beat Google at its own game today, and it has led me to start an experiment in live social networks over the archived web. I am going to spend the next week using Twitter instead of Google whenever I feel the urge to 'Google' something.

Here's why. Today I was Googling restaurants near my home that I could go to for a sunday roast. A few suggestions from the people in the room and my own experiences helped. But I thought I'd ask Twitter:

"Where does a good sunday roast near Reading / Pangbourne / Berkshire?"
Responses I got back over the next few minutes were first class.

Stuff I couldn't find anywhere else. They came from people who I follow and / or who follow me on Twitter, so they were personal and personalised. They were not bookmarks, reviews or 'diggs'. They were people's views and they came out of nowhere. I received them as both replies and direct messages. And for what it's worth, they told me to try: the four Points, Malmaison, The Bull and Butcher, The Pot Kiln, The Wellington Arms, The Royal Oak and The Swan. Wow!
Then when I mentioned on Twitter that I used Twitter instead of Google, again I got a big, favourable response. I think this just might me a worthwhile experiment. If not, well, then at least the world gets to read the rubbish that I type into Google!

So follow me in my experiment if you have some time to spare / waste, and try it out if you're feeling like a refreshing change.

I've been to the original, London Social Media Cafe, which is on Friday mornings in Soho. The people I've met there have been such useful contacts. It's the first time I met in the flesh a lot of the entrepreneurs, media and technology innovators who I now count as either colleagues or friends. I hope that with Thames Valle's strong technology leaning, our new arm of Social Media Cafe will take off.

And as Matt said, we're going to hold it in the best coffee shop for miles around. :)